


the tears from our past water the garden blooming in front of us

by fallingforboys



Series: watch the wilted flowers stand tall again as we dare to dream [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Good Theo Raeken, M/M, Puppy Pack (Teen Wolf), Theo Raeken & Brett Talbot Friendship, Theo's a good friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28808949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallingforboys/pseuds/fallingforboys
Summary: Brett was driving Theo crazy.And it just kept getting worse.
Relationships: Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt, Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Nolan/Brett Talbot
Series: watch the wilted flowers stand tall again as we dare to dream [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2107209
Comments: 3
Kudos: 92





	the tears from our past water the garden blooming in front of us

“Brett, please,” Theo pleaded. “Stop talking.”

The werewolf paused his two hour rant about Nolan and looked at Theo, who had his head resting on his arms, sitting at the counter of the McCall kitchen. “ _No_. Who else am I supposed to talk to about my problems?”

The older boy groaned at his best friend’s words. “Literally _anyone_ else. I think I know more about Nolan than his own parents do.”

“Well, he’s still refusing to go out with me, so I’m gonna sit here and bitch about it, because no one else will listen,” Brett said firmly, but Theo picked up a hint of frustration and sadness in his scent.

The werewolf had been asking Nolan out almost every day now, and kept getting rejected. Nolan, sticking to Liam’s dumbass advice, has continued playing hard to get, and it’s been driving not only Brett crazy, but Theo too. If he had to listen to one more rant about the human, he was seriously going to kill someone. 

“Look,” Theo cut off Brett’s whining, “If I help you get a date with him, will you shut up?”

The blond considered his words for a minute. “If you help me, yes, I will stop talking about him.”

Theo sighed in relief. “Thank fucking god.”

“Most of the time.”

Theo groaned. He would never be free of this torture. 

__________________________________

Theo was seriously beginning to regret his decision to help Brett. 

The werewolf had dragged him to the store after he got out of school, telling him they needed to go pick something up. An hour and a half later, they still hadn’t left.

“ _Brett_ , why are we still here?” Theo asked his best friend, annoyance rolling off of him in waves.

“I still need to find something,” Brett answered, making a sharp right into another aisle of the store. 

“What are you looking for? Maybe we can ask someone instead of wandering around like we’re drunk. We’ve been here for almost two hours and don’t have a single thing in our cart.”

“I don’t know.”

Theo froze. “You don’t know?” he asked slowly, unsure if he heard wrong or if Brett’s stupidity had really reached that level.

“Yeah, this time has to be perfect. So, I gotta find something to make it perfect,” Brett stated, as if what he was saying completely made sense and Theo was the idiot for not realizing it.

Guess Brett’s stupidity really had reached that level.

“Okay, no,” Theo growled, grabbing the werewolf’s arm and dragging him out of the store. “I said I’d help you, not waste two hours at a store getting absolutely fucking nothing because you don’t know what you want.”

The blond complained at being hauled out, but Theo didn’t let go and kept moving to his truck. He shoved Brett into the truck and walked to the other side to get in.

Brett was sulking, his arms crossed and sinking back into the seat. Theo sighed. 

“Brett-”

“I have done _everything_ ,” his best friend cut him off, his voice dropping to barely above a whisper. “ _Everything_. I got him flowers, chocolate, even a new video game controller because he said his was broken. I keep doing all this shit, _every fucking day_ , and he keeps turning me down.”

The truck was filled with the smell of Brett’s anguish, and Theo fully turned in his seat to look at the werewolf. 

“He likes yo-”

“No,” Brett suddenly sat up, all emotion wiped off his face. “I’m done. I’m done trying.”

Theo’s jaw dropped slightly, taken aback at the sudden declaration. “Wait, Brett, I’m telling you, he _likes_ you-”

“Theo.” Brett’s eyes were cold, his face completely stoic. “Just drive. I’ve got a lot of homework to do.”

The chimera wanted to keep talking, but the look on the werewolf’s face stopped him. He had _never_ seen Brett like this. Brett always kept his head up, taking every adversity in stride, always laughing. This emotionless, detached Brett scared Theo. 

Because Theo couldn’t recognize his best friend.

__________________________________

Theo dropped Brett off at his apartment, and watched as he trudged into the building, his shoulders drooping. 

The chimera slammed his hand on the wheel in frustration. Seeing Brett like this angered him. The werewolf was one of the first of the pack that he had gotten close to and their tentative, hesitant friendship had only grown since then. They knew everything about each other, and Brett was the one that listened to him about Liam back when they weren’t dating.

Theo’s eyes suddenly landed on Brett’s backpack, pushed all the way forward at the bottom of the passenger seat, and he sighed. _So much for doing homework_.

He grabbed the backpack and made his way inside the apartment building. Brett had given him a key the day Theo moved in with the McCalls, so the chimera let himself in.

Theo’s heart stopped at the sight that met his eyes when he stepped inside.

Brett was crying. _Crying_. 

He _never_ cried. But there he was, on the couch, bloodshot eyes and tears on his cheek. At Theo’s entrance, he quickly wiped his face, and stood up. 

“Oh, is that my backpack?” Brett asked, laughing slightly, but it got caught in his throat. “Thanks for bringing it up, my bio teacher would’ve killed me.”

Theo opened his mouth, to try and say _something_ that would help his best friend, but Brett cut him off. 

“Thanks dude, I’m sure you got a lot of shit to do. I already wasted like two hours, you should get going,” the werewolf joked, and pushed Theo out of the door. 

The chimera stared at the closed door in front of him, his mind racing through what just happened. 

Brett was _crying_. 

And Theo was _infuriated._

__________________________________

“You _asshole_.”

“Theo, stop!” Liam yelled, trying to pull his boyfriend’s hands off of Nolan, but Theo nudged him away. He tightened his grip on Nolan’s shirt and pushed him harder against the wall of Liam’s room, ignoring the human’s slight wince.

“ _No,_ ” the chimera growled, his eyes flashing. “What the _fuck_ is wrong with you?”

Mason, Corey, and Liam all tried to calm Theo down, but all the chimera could see was the sight of tears on Brett’s cheeks, face red and blotchy, his sad laugh, trying to pretend that everything was fine. Everything was _not_ fine, and Theo was done with Nolan’s games. 

He pulled the human about an inch off the wall and slammed him against it again, and Nolan yelped at the motion. 

“Brett has done _everything_ for you, and you _fucking_ let him,” Theo snarled at the human, “But you don’t do _shit_ for him.”

“I- I like him too,” Nolan stammered, his eyes wide with fear. Theo wasn’t usually like this anymore, he had left the threats and the violence a while ago, but he was _beyond_ furious right now.

“You don’t fucking _show_ it,” Theo hissed. “And Brett deserves better than that.”

The chimera suddenly released Nolan and moved back, his fury suddenly draining out, frustration taking its place. “Brett deserves better than what you’re giving him. And if you don’t get your shit together, he’s gonna move on,” he stated, watching the human stand up. “And I’ll be right there next to him, encouraging him. Because he deserves _better_.”

Nolan looked like he was about to cry. Theo felt a little bad, but then again, Brett was crying too. And the chimera had to make sure he wouldn’t cry again over Nolan. 

“Get your shit together, or leave him alone,” Theo finished, and walked out of the room. Liam followed him out the door and down the stairs.

“What happened?” the werewolf asked, knowing that Theo wouldn’t go to this extreme unless something had happened.

“I’ve never seen Brett like that,” Theo said, looking up at his boyfriend. “He was _emotionless_. And then he went into his apartment and _broke down_. Liam, he was fucking _crying_. I- I couldn’t _stand_ seeing him like that.”

“This is my fault,” Liam said guiltily. “I was the one that told him to play hard to get.”

Theo shook his head. “No. You told him to play hard to get in the _beginning_. But he never stopped. That’s on _him_ , not you.”

Theo sighed heavily, running a hand down his face. “I just want him to be happy. He deserves to be happy.”

__________________________________

Brett was back to normal the next day, laughing and joking with the pack like nothing had happened, but Theo knew better. He could detect the pain that the werewolf had tried to cover up- the redness in his eyes that hadn’t completely gone away from last night, his voice that was a little more rough than usual because of all the crying, the way that he seemed to just _deflate_ when he thought no one was looking. Theo saw all of it. And he hated that he couldn’t help him.

While the Puppy Pack was at school, he texted Liam telling him to take the rest of the pack to his house after school, because he needed Brett alone. Liam responded with a thumbs up, and Theo began to form a plan.

Three hours later, he pulled into the school, seeing Brett standing alone, looking down at his phone. He looked up when he heard Theo’s truck, and got in. 

“What are we doing?” Brett asked, and Theo guessed that Liam had told him about what the chimera had texted him. 

“I spent all day researching, and I came up with the best plan to get over a breakup,” Theo stated, and he raised his voice when he saw Brett about to interrupt, “ _I_ _know_ it’s not a breakup, but according to all the movies, this works for any situation. So no complaining.”

“Theo, I’m fine, we don’t have to do all this-”

“Shut up, Brett. No complaining,” Theo repeated, driving to Brett’s apartment. He had picked up some stuff from the grocery store before going to the school, and he hoped that Brett would at least feel a little better after today.

Theo parked the truck, got out, and opened the trunk. He grabbed all the groceries and made his way over to Brett, who was waiting at the entrance of the apartment building. 

Once they made it into Brett’s apartment, Theo shoved his best friend onto the couch and glared at him when he attempted to get up. Taking out the ice cream from the grocery bags and grabbing two spoons from the kitchen, he made his way over to where the werewolf was still sitting, and shoved one of the ice cream containers into his hands.

“Ice cream? Really, Theo?” Brett asked incredulously. “I’m not a 14 year old girl.”

“I never knew ice cream was limited to 14 year old girls,” Theo said dryly as he turned the tv on and put Ironman. “Shut up and watch the movie. And eat your ice cream. And I won’t judge if you want to cry.”

“Jesus, Theo. I’m not gonna cry,” Brett sighed, opening the ice cream. 

About two hours later, the movie was almost done, and both boys had finished eating. Besides his lips quirking up at the funny parts, the werewolf had been quiet the entire time. 

“Thank you,” Brett whispered as the credits began to play.

“For the ice cream? Don’t worry about it,” Theo responded, though he had a feeling that wasn’t what his friend was talking about.

“You won’t judge?” Brett asked, and it took Theo a second to realize he was referencing their conversation from before the movie. Theo shook his head, and Brett’s face crumpled.

The chimera felt a pang in his chest as he saw his best friend break down, but he moved closer to him, and Brett dropped his head into Theo’s lap.

“I hate this,” Brett whimpered, and the older boy ran one hand through the werewolf’s hair. Melissa had done the same thing for him one night when he woke up screaming after a nightmare, and it had calmed him down a lot. 

“It’ll get better,” Theo whispered, his heart breaking at the hopeless look on Brett’s face. “It always does.”

__________________________________

Theo’s plan had actually worked- Brett was slowly getting back to how he was before. There were still days when he seemed to be stuck in his thoughts, but overall, he was a lot better. Nolan had avoided both Theo and Brett for the last week, never staying too long when either of them were close by. 

The whole pack was affected by what had happened, because it had caused a small split. Alec, Lori, and Theo stayed with Brett, while Liam, Corey, and Mason stayed with Nolan. There were no problems between the other members, but keeping Brett and Nolan apart seemed to be the best idea at the moment.

It was a Friday, and Theo was on his way to the school to pick up Brett, Alec, and Lori. He had just put his truck in park when Liam threw open the door, his face shining with excitement. 

“Did you learn something interesting in history again?” Theo asked his boyfriend with a fond smile. He could spend forever listening to Liam rant on about obscure historical facts. 

“No, even better,” the werewolf blurted out, jumping up and down slightly. “Nolan’s about to ask Brett out.”

Theo stopped at that. “ _What?_ ”

“Yep, he made us help him with a whole plan and everything,” Liam grinned. “That’s what he’s been doing for the last week. Getting everything ready.”

The chimera was slightly doubtful, still not completely believing that Nolan had the courage to pull something like this off. There was no doubt that the human was head over heels for Brett- but he was _not_ one for grand gestures.

“Come on, we’re gonna miss it,” Liam exclaimed and pulled Theo out of the truck. They jogged over to the side of the school, where Mason and Corey were unrolling a red carpet. Theo’s eyes widened at the sight. Nolan was apparently going _all out_. 

Theo glanced at Nolan, who looked like he was going to throw up. He was holding a bouquet of flowers and was muttering to himself at the end of the red carpet. He was _practicing_ , the chimera realized, and his lips tilted up. The human had finally gotten his shit together.

“Where are we going?” Theo heard Brett’s voice drift over, and he turned to see him walking in between Alec and Lori, the latter covering his eyes. They walked up to the start of the red carpet, and let go of Brett’s arms. Lori removed her hand, and Brett’s eyes widened at the sight in front of him. 

“Nolan?” 

“Uh, hi,” the human gave the werewolf a little wave and Theo almost smacked his forehead.

“What’s going on?” Brett asked, his narrowing at the boy on the other side of the red carpet. Nolan cleared his throat and shifted uneasily.

“Um, Brett, I know I haven’t really shown anything that proves it, but I like you. A lot, and uh,” Nolan faltered. 

“Keep going!” Mason hissed, and the human startled at the harsh sound. He looked at Brett, who seemed to be deciding if this was real or a joke. 

“Willyougooutwithme?” Nolan blurted out in one word, and Brett stared at him blankly.

The human exhaled sharply, realizing that the blond didn’t understand what he had said. “Brett, will you go out with me? I know I don’t deserve it, after turning you down so many times, but I’m stupid, and if you’re gonna go out with me, you should know that, because it’s not really something I can control you know, and I’m gonna do stupid shit sometimes, actually like all the time, but I really do like you and I-”

Brett had been slowly walking closer to Nolan, but the human was too preoccupied with his babbling to notice until the werewolf cut him off. 

By kissing him.

Nolan made a surprised noise, but it was absorbed into the kiss, and he leaned in to Brett, kissing back just as hard as the werewolf. The other Puppy Pack members cheered, and Alec let out a relieved “ _Finally_.”

Two minutes later and they were still making out. And Theo was done. He walked up to the two and yanked them apart. 

“I’m really happy that you guys are together, but you can stop making out now,” he drawled, smirking at the blush on both Brett and Nolan’s cheeks. 

“I distinctly recall you and Liam making out for longer the first time you guys kissed,” Brett retorted, slinging an arm around Nolan and pulling him close. 

The chimera rolled his eyes and lightly shoved his best friend. “Shut up.”

The pack all laughed, and they began to make their way to the truck after Mason rolled up the carpet. 

Theo glanced at Brett, his eyes bright with laughter, his lips pulled up in a wide grin, his cheeks still slightly flushed from before. 

The chimera’s mouth quirked up as he wrapped an arm around Liam. 

Yeah, everything was finally fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Theo and Brett’s bromance is everything I live for


End file.
